a strong defense for a fire-safe utrecht
case
Climate change doesn’t just change the weather outside of The Netherlands, it also happens here. With the summer of 2024 in sight, “Veiligheidsregio Utrecht” had a mission: to prevent and mitigate incidents in wildfires. They made a special step-by-step plan for the citizens of Utrecht that live close to forests and people who like to hike there.
The challenge here was to explain the dangers of wildfires in a clear and simple way that was easy to spread via different media channels. Because the target group is large (possibly all inhabitants of Utrecht), we laid out a content strategy that reaches all separate groups online and offline. That means we had to create and implement media for people with low literacy, professors, the elderly, and young people. We designed a campaign that effectively reached all these groups.
“Veiligheidsregio Utrecht” wanted to explain as much information as possible to a large target audience, so the language had to be on B1 level, as simple as possible. This requires simple words, lots of breathing space and a quiet pace so that the viewer can process the information well. We implemented these rules in animated videos, social media snippets and print media (flyers). By using the same recognisable style on all media outlets, we kept on repeating the message so that the citizens of Utrecht remembered the information.
We also made the design for interactive information bords. It was important for “Veiligheidsregio Utrecht” that people also implemented the information. In the end they just didn’t want people to, for instance, smoke outside or throw out their glass in nature. Both can ignite wildfires. By creating an interactive display, we challenged the reader to answer questions that helped them to understand the problem in a way they would remember. Here we would repeat the step-by-step plan, again in the same design we used on the other channels.
Through social media, we engaged the audience by giving interesting questions for them to answer. Viewers could swipe to reveal the correct answers. This allowed them to test their knowledge based on the information they had previously encountered through other media.
online & offline campaign
The combination of all the messages and media channels is what makes this campaign so powerful. You can spread information in a lot of ways, through both online and offline media. We present it in different, digestible formats. Here, older people see the flyers, people on the road see the posters, and young social media users view it online.
